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Stolen vehicle leads to ‘soft’ Re-2 schools lockdown

An incident involving a stolen vehicle out of Missouri resulted in a partial lockdown in the Garfield Re-2 School District for part of today’s school day.

The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said district parents were e-mailed around 9:30 a.m. today notifying them that all schools in the district, which stretches from Rifle to New Castle, were going on a precautionary “soft lockdown.”

The sheriff’s office recommended the precaution after being notified of a broken-down vehicle on westbound Interstate 70 at mile marker 101.5, west of New Castle and about 1.5 miles east of Coal Ridge High School. Deputies were advised that a man was seen walking away from the vehicle wrapped in a blanket. Meanwhile, the vehicle, a 1994 Pontiac Grand Am GT, was discovered to have been stolen out of Osage County, Mo.

Deputies never located the man. The vehicle’s owner consented to a vehicle search, and no weapons or threat to the public were found, the sheriff’s office said.

The lockdown was lifted later today, the district said.

Authorities said there never was any specific threat to students or staff within the district.